Employment

Occupations

Young Women Cohort

Mature Women Cohort

Young Women Occupation Variables

This section reviews (1) the occupational classification coding systems used by the Census Bureau to classify occupations of NLS respondents and other household members and (2) the occupational prestige scoring systems assigned to 1960 Census occupations. Data on the occupation(s) that respondents were seeking or in which they were employed or received training were collected during most survey years. In addition, select surveys have collected information on the occupation of intervening and dual jobs.

Coding by occupation has been based on an open-ended question (e.g., "What kind of work [are/were] you doing?"). Follow-up questions fielded during some survey years elicit more specific information on job duties and job titles. Interviewers enter verbatim responses from the respondent into the questionnaire; Census personnel then coded the responses using the 1960, 1980, 1990 and/or 2000 Census Bureau Alphabetical Index of Occupations and Industries. Table YW1 shows which coding systems were used in various survey years.

Table YW1. Occupation Coding Systems Used by Survey Year

Coding System

1968-82

1983-87

1988, 1991

1993

1995-2003

1960 Codes

*

*

*

*

1980 Codes-current/last job only

*

1980 Codes-current/last job and dual job only

*

1980 Codes-all jobs

*

*

1990 Codes-all jobs

*

*

2000 Codes-all jobs

*

A series of edited variables (O & I Rewrite) provides three-digit and one-digit occupational codes for the current or last job ever reported by the respondent. The universe for these variables is all respondents interviewed in a given survey year for whom occupational data were ever collected. This series ended in 1993 because the 1960 codes were discontinued.

The User Notes in the Industries section of this guide provide additional information on the editing and creation procedures utilized for certain occupation variables.

Occupational prestige indices. The following occupational prestige scores are provided for select variables:

Duncan Index: All three-digit 1960 Census occupational categories have been assigned a two-digit ordinal prestige score based upon the education and income distributions of the occupation. The scores, ranging from 0 to 97, may be interpreted either as estimates of prestige ratings or simply as values on a scale of occupational socioeconomic status. For details, see Duncan (1961).

Bose Index: This ordinal measure of the prestige of an occupation was developed from responses of a sample of 197 white households in the Baltimore metropolitan area to questions about the prestige of 110 selected occupations. The rankings within each occupation were averaged and the mean values transformed to a metric with values 0 to 100 (Bose 1973). The latter scores were regressed on the 1959 median earnings and 1960 median years of school completed of the civilian experienced labor force employed in these occupations (Census 1960). The resultant equation was then used to estimate the mean prestige scores for occupations of the Young Women. See Attachment 4 in the Young Women's Codebook Supplement for more information.

GED and SVP scores. The 1968, 1971, and 1973 surveys of the Young Women include created variables providing two special occupational scores: a General Education Development (GED) score and a Specific Vocational Preparation (SVP) score (Department of Labor 1965, Appendix B). The GED score is a representation of the amount of general education or life experience needed to perform a given job. The score represents three factors: reasoning development, mathematical development, and language development; each of these factors is divided into six levels, with one representing the least amount of education and six the most. The first number in the 3-digit GED score represents the level of reasoning required for the job, the second number is the level of mathematical achievement, and the last number indicates language requirements.

The SVP score considers the opposite proposition: that some amount of time is required to learn to perform a specific occupation at an average level of competence. This single-digit score ranges from 1 to 9, with 1 meaning that the job only requires a short demonstration, 2 indicating that the job requires up to 30 days of training and experience, and so on up to 9, which means that the job requires more than 10 years of specific learning and experience before it can be performed at an acceptable level.

Related Variables: Information on the occupations of family or household members is available in many survey years; see the Household Composition section for more information.

Survey Instruments & Documentation: Questions on occupations are found within the "Current Labor Force Status," "Work History," and "Retirement and Pension" sections of the questionnaires; occupations of household members were collected as part of the "Family Background" or "Household Members" sections. Attachment 4 of the Codebook Supplement lists the Bose Index scores for select 1960 occupations. Appendix 22 in the Codebook Supplement provides the GED and SVP scores for the various occupations.

User Notes

Previously, variable titles for occupations listed within the various NLS documentation items did not always specify the Census coding system utilized. If no year is listed, users should assume that the 1960 classification was used for coding. Recent releases added the year to the title indicating which Census system was used.

The series of edited occupational variables (O & I Rewrite) can be differentiated from the direct questionnaire item 'Occupation of Current or Last Job' variables a question name of "CV" or by the word "collapsed" appended to the titles of these edited variables. See the Occupation & Industry Rewrite discussion in the Industries section for additional information. This series ended in 1993 because the 1960 codes were dropped.

In the questionnaires and Census versions of the data files provided to CHRR, the responses to some employment-related questions were coded in such a way as to require reference to another question's response. Relevant notations are present within the codebook.

The user should also be aware that "job" changes are tracked with ambiguity as to whether they are an occupation change, employer change, or both.